Body in suitcase inquest: welfare of disabled man had been raised with social services

Serious concerns about the health of James Hughes, the severely disabled man whose emaciated corpse was found crammed into a suitcase at his family home, had been raised with social workers, it emerged at his inquest yesterday.

But by the time a social worker actually saw his mother, Heather Wardle, four months later, Hughes was almost certainly dead. She told the social worker that he was "fine" but was staying with his father and the social worker did not press her because he did not want to "offend" her.

A new appointment was made for the following week - but by then Wardle had been found hanged in undergrowth and Hughes' body, weighing only 4.5 stone (29kg) and dressed in nothing but a nappy, had been discovered, the inquest heard.

On the second day of Hughes's inquest, a social services manager admitted that mistakes had been made over his care, conceding that social services should have asked more questions and checked that Wardle was able to cope with him.

Also giving evidence in Stourport yesterday was Wardle's partner, Brian Kirby. He denied knowing how Hughes, who was 21 but had the mental age of a toddler, died, or how he came to be in the suitcase.

Kirby said he last saw Hughes in January 2007 - three months before the body was discovered. But he said his relationship with Wardle had been collapsing and he was staying out at work as long as he could. "My mind wasn't at home," he said. "I didn't want be there. We weren't functioning as a family. We weren't talking."

He also told the inquest that Wardle had spoken of taking her own life. "She said: 'You'll be cutting me down one day.'"

The inquest has heard that Hughes had chromosome ring 22, a rare genetic disorder. He could not speak, had epilepsy and was incontinent. Wardle "doted" on him but as his main carer was always tired. She was on anti-depressants while drinking heavily and smoking cannabis.

Hughes' death emerged in April after he and his mother were reported missing from their home in Redditch, Worcestershire.